


The Long Dark

by ThoughtfulBreadPolice



Series: The Deep Well [3]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Whatthemeepever is an enabler, its kind of sad i think, lots of hobbits die, or specific, this reads like a history lesson, though there isnt anything detailed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:22:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25166908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoughtfulBreadPolice/pseuds/ThoughtfulBreadPolice
Summary: The Hobbits are not built for the cold, long dark of winter, and they aren't in anyway prepared for what happens during it.
Series: The Deep Well [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787800
Kudos: 13





	The Long Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I worked exceptionally hard on this, and thanks to Whatthemeepever, I managed to finish it. I hope everyone really enjoys it., because while no characters are actually in this particular fic what happens here is important to the continuation of the series going forward.

The first of it to be told, was that while the spring had come early that year, _something all hobbits rejoiced in for none truly liked the winter, even though they understood the necessity of it,_ it had also been extremely wet. Which was odd for the part of the world they lived in. The Shire itself had always been rather temperate, and being in a sort of pocket that most bad weather always seemed to bypass, they more often than not had mild winters and summers.

But that year, the excessive rainfall had caused many problems for the hobbits of The Shire. Mudslides in Greenhill Country blocked the road between Tuckborough and Woodhall, and any of the unpaved roads turned to a mud so thick that passing over them became nigh impossible and in those places where the roads dipped, the thick, sticky mud acted as a sort of quicksand for those hobbits, and beasts unfortunate enough to have no choice but to attempt to cross them.

Farmer Maggot, _who lived just a little ways down from Stock on the Marish,_ reported to the Thain that all the extra water was making the Brandywine River swell up and over the banks, and The Marish, a low lying plain, had all but flooded. 

Indeed, several other similar reports had come in from many other places in The Shire, and the Thain listened to each and every one.

The rock quarry in Scary, _located on the edge of the Greenfields,_ was under water. Frogmorton, _which sat in the V of two streams and held many willow trees,_ had water nearly up to the bottoms of their doors; and in Brockenborings, they saw the little lake they lived next to swell and cover the docks used for fishing almost completely. 

Much like the Marish, the Rushock Bog, west and north of Hobbiton and home to Needlehole, _the last hobbit settlement before Ered Luin,_ had seen their only road be swallowed up by the waters of the swamp, cutting them off completely from the rest of The Shire.

Seeing as very few Hobbits could swim or even build, let alone use a boat, it was a very large problem indeed.

Thain Geronatious, trusting in Farmer Maggot’s opinion, and taking into consideration all the of the other reports he had received throughout The Shire, sent Bounders to each town and little village so that all the hobbits under his purview would know to be doubly cautious of the water. _He also sent a rider across the Brandywine Bridge to Buckland to warn the Master of Buckland of the danger as well, though it would not affect them over much unless Bucklanders decided to come visiting in The Shire._

The news of the water thus was spread, and life, as it so often does, went on. Crops such as grains, vegetables, and fruits were planted in the fields not covered by the waters, and Ostara, _one of the four great equinoxes, where the hobbits greet the fertile spring,_ was welcomed by all.

As the days turned longer and the flowers bloomed bright and fragrant across the full breadth of The Shire, little lads and lasses were seen weaving flowers into their hair, and everyone, young and old, prepared to celebrate Beltane. _A wondrous festival full of love and romance and the belief that this was the time when Kementari, their creator, had married Aule The Smith, who had created the dwarrow people._

With the summer came days of sunshine and the sounds of the birds in the trees and the buzzing of the honey bees, and Litha, _which is the summer solstice,_ was welcomed and Hobbits began to prepare for Lughnasadh, _which marks the midpoint between summer and fall, and is the first harvest festival of the year._

The eve of said Harvest Festival dawned with an unseasonably cold bite to the morning air that faded as the sun rose to its zenith in the sky, and the rest of the day remained summer hot. 

The Hobbits quickly forgot the morning weather as the day warmed and last minute preparations were completed for the all-day celebration to come. 

Hobbits, all across The Shire, _and yes even in Needlehole for as the summer months went by, the water disappeared from the roads and the deep sticky mud dried up leaving cracked and flakey earth behind. It is worth mentioning here that the deep waters, such as the Brandywine and the little lakes and streams were still swollen with excess water from the spring rains and was thus still quite dangerous for Hobbits to cross;_ went to bed that evening to warm, sweet air, and ready to celebrate the coming day; woke to a deep frost that had come upon them, much like a thief, and settled into, and onto everything.

Nothing was left untouched, and the damage that was wrought from the frost’s long, grasping fingers, was exponential.

Tender vegetables and fruits, and the grains and the flowers, were immediately damaged and when the frost receded two days later. So much moisture was left behind that it caused most crops to wither at the roots and eventually die in the following weeks. Grain stores that had been left open saw water damage that would cause mold to grow and the younger less hardy animals, such as piglets, calves and kids, fell to a sickness that spread like wildfire. Many animals were lost to it, and Budgeford, _which is where most of The Shire’s meat source came from,_ was hit hardest.

The events that followed the deep frost happened steadily and without any sort of pause in between them; making it very difficult for the Hobbits of The Shire to adjust to their new, deadly reality.

For just like spring, autumn that year came early. The green leaves on the trees seemed to all at once, change color and fall from their branches, as biting winds from the north ensured that the temperature continued to drop leaving a lasting chill in the air that dug deep into the Hobbits’ bones and refused to let go.

  
  


One day in early October the Hobbits opened the doors of their smials to deep snow, making travel very difficult. The nights grew long and it seemed to many that there were days when the temperature was so cold they would freeze to death if they stayed outside longer than fifteen minutes. 

The winds howled day and night, and as food became scarce and the firewood began to run low, young children and the elderly, began to suffer a harsh cough that settled into their lungs. The cough was followed by a fever that burned through them.

Sickness, cold, starvation, and just as it seemed things could truly not get any worse, the sound of the Horn of Buckland echoed across The Shire. The Brandywine River had frozen allowing all manner of fell, wicked things to cross into the once peaceful lands of The Shire.

The most notably of these beasts were the half-orcs and wolves.

They had come down from the Andraith after their own supplies of foul foods and supplies had run out; and they burned Staddle, _which rested along the Midgewater Marsh_.

Staddle had already suffered its own ill fortunes from the goblins that had crossed over the Marsh’s frozen waters killing many and driving those survivors into the man village of Combe.

_Combe, which sat a little ways from Bree and closer to the Chetwood, had been lucky enough to avoid the raiding goblins and half-orcs as they skirted around Bree and made their ways into Buckland. Let it be noted here, that some quarter of them had wandered into the Old Forest and were never seen again except for those wolves that went with them and managed to escape the angry branches of the Hurons that made the Old Forest their home._

They traveled then, after ransacking Buckland and as far as Crickhollow _though they thankfully never went further than that, and didn’t make it into Brandy Hall where most of the Bucklanders had fled to,_ and over the frozen Brandywine River and into Stock. _Farmer Maggot, who lived out on the Marish some distance away from the town were left unmolested by the half-orcs and wolves due to their location being in the opposite direction the beasts were traveling in._

_The raiders and wolves had to cross over the frozen river because they were unable to cross the Brandywine bridge. The great doors on both sides of it had been closed by the Hobbits of Stock, who were the keepers of said bridge, for the first time since their making by the dwarrow of Durin’s Folk long ago, and the fell beasts could not break them._

It is a sad thing that the Hobbits who suffered so greatly from the terrible cold, were also made to suffer these horrid invaders who cared not for the lives they ruined as they moved deeper and deeper into The Shire, _pillaging and burning and committing other foul deed that won't be spoken of here._

Woodhall, having been given ample warning from the Hobbits that had managed to flee Stock, fled to the safety of Tuckborough. _Many of them crossed paths with the Shire-Tooks who marched in the opposite direction doing what they could to stop the invaders from going further into The Shire._

After Stock, the half-orcs and wolves split into different directions. Some of them moving up into Budgeford, _those half-orcs and wolves would run into a contingent of the Dunedain, who’s ancestors had sworn to protect the borders of The Shire and the Hobbits that lived within its bounds._

Another larger group, of half-orcs and wolves moved down into Frogmorton. _Those that lived there stood no chance against them as it was a small, not even large enough for a post office, group of homes that sat nestled between two streams._ Those Hobbits stood no chance and began to flee south towards Bywater.

The survivors from Frogmorton joined those Hobbits from Bywater and Hobbiton that were fleeing to the Great Smial in Tuckborough. 

In the weeks that followed the Dunedain and Elves, after decimating the main force of half-orcs and wolves, hunted down those roving bands that remained and were still scattered throughout The Shire . _It was during this time that some groups of Hobbits braved going out their doors to head for Tuckborough, and while some made it, many did not._

Eventually, as December passed and the long, dark winter began to wane, the Shire was made safe again and the Hobbits began to return to their homes. Smials were rebuilt, their dead they found and buried, _though it should be said that not all of the dead were found, and many more remained unaccounted for,_ and life as it so often does, whether we wish it to or not, goes on.


End file.
